A lot of people say that things could get as bad as the great depression. That is true in the absolute sense, but wrong in the relative. What I mean is that w

A lot of people say that things could get as bad as the great depression. That is true in the absolute sense, but wrong in the relative. What I mean is that we are today much richer then people were just before the great depression. If the economy dives deeper and stays down longer we would still be much better of then people were during the great depression. That's not my opinion, that's fact, because it is what happened in Japan. Japan had a cheap money, stock and real estate fueled boom and then a true depression which was deeper and longer then the great depression. But because they were much, much, much better of to start with, their bottom was still far above the great depression's bottom. The same principle would apply to America. As other people have mentioned cash is king in a recession/depression. Keep in mind cash can lose its value if the fed is trying to stimulate spending by inflating the currency. Gold is a good hedge but gold is taxed at very high rates (22%, not sure) but government bonds are tax free. It's probably a good idea to hold both. And if the fed is attempting to save us by printing money, debt IS a good thing to have. Inflation is the debtor's friend.